"Biography lends to death a new terror."

Probably one of the greatest contributing artists of the 20th century is Pablo Picasso. Many know his name in connection to Cubism, the art movement he is responsible with other artists for creating, but there is more to this artist then a few odd shapes on a canvas.

He was born in Spain in 1881 and was admitted to advanced classes in the Academy of Barcelona at 15. He was influenced by artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who was a late 19th century artist that captured the nightlife of Paris of the time onto canvas. By 1901, Picasso had begun his career as a painter, through what is known today as "The Blue Period" and lasted from (1901-1904).

During "The Blue Period", his subjects were melancholy and his paintings were done in dark tones. After this came "The Rose Period". This period of two years was when Picasso's paintings took a brighter turn, with circus life as subjects and lighter colors used in the pieces.

He developed Cubism into what it is known today as primarily after 1912, with works such as "The Three Musicians" (1921). Through this development, collage became one of the several techniques of the style.

One of Picasso's most famous works however is "Guernica", which was painted in 1937 and is named after a Spanish town that was bombed. There was a brutal civil war going on in Spain at the time, and Picasso is deeply troubled by it. The underlying theme of the painting is mainly a condemnation of war, and Picasso's outrage at the destruction and rubble of the targeted town.

Picasso continued to paint until his death in 1973 and it is estimates that he has produced 22,000 works in a variety of mediums over the course of his lifetime. He will forever remain a beloved artist, and his impact on the art world is most notable.

For more information see here.

"It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art."

Again, this is a quote that doesn't fully apply to what we're about to talk about, but it's a good quote, and Oscar said it. So there.

Anyways, if you've ever been to Southern California, perhaps you've been to the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. In this art museum, it's unlikely you'll see a Renoir or Michelangelo here, or even an O'Keefe. No, the museum displays what it advertises; Contemporary Art.

Now we're not talking about silly paintings and dabbling artists. It's true that modern art tends to get a slam from some members of the art world for not being "real art". This is silly and uncalled for. Most of the artists featured at the museum put as much thought and effort into their work as Kahlo and Millais did. And while we're on the subject of Millais, remember the initial reactions of the critics? They all thought it was crap.

Sounds familiar huh?

But Millais is not the only whose had to suffer this. Throughout history many now famous artists received initial criticism from the critics about their work. It seem whenever someone intends to 're vamp' the concept of art they are at first criticized. But first opinions are not always correct, and that is why we still admire so many beautiful pieces today.

At The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the work that lines their halls is not only visual, but encompasses a whole array of senses. Recently they featured an exhibit on sound, in which there were several pieces of glassware spinning around in a pool of water by a motor. The glassware would clink as it bumped into each other, and made for a very peaceful and musical atmosphere.

For more information on the museum check out their website:

http://www.mcasd.org/home.asp

"I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex."

We've done a lot of looking into the history and science of fine art and more specifically, paint. But as we grow older every day, we forget about the first little rainbow of color we were introduced to as children:




CRAYONS!


Today one of the most popular brands for buying these little splunkers is Crayola, and although they started over 120 years ago, crayons were not their first major product out on the market. Binney and Smith, the makers of Crayola were two cousins who took over the family pigment business in the late 1800's. At the time, they were known mostly for their red oxide pigment, which is why we see so much of this in America:



After their success with red oxide pigment, they moved on to other accomplishments such as slate school pencils. But it wasn't until the created dustless chalk that the idea caught their eye to try their hand at crayons. At the time, crayons were white and of poor quality paraffin wax. In 1903, Binney and Smith created not only better quality crayons, but ones with color as well.

Throughout the past 100 years there have been more the 400 different Crayola crayon colors, but today there are an established 120 on the market. For more information on Crayola's colors and a time line click here.

More info on Binney and Smith.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

We're going to take a little detour from what we've been talking about for the past few weeks and observe a very different kind of artist; Leonard Knight.

Leonard Knight is a painter like Millais but aside from using a brush and a pigment dyed liquid as tools that's about as far as the similarities go.

Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps you haven't. But if anyone reading this had read Weird US you might remember something about Salvation Mountain.

Yup, it is what it looks like. A giant hill covered in paint in the middle of a California desert near Slab City. But what must be admired is the persistence and dedication that one man has applied to this very personal statement of his beliefs for over 20 years.

Leonard Knight was born November 1, 1931 just outside of Burlington, Vermont. In 1970, after seeing a hot air balloon pass over Burlington, he decided it would be the perfect way to spread his message of love, and so, he decided to make one of his own. Fourteen years later in 1984, Leonard had a huge pile of patched fabric and hard work that, try as he might, would not fly.

He decided to take a different route. After the failed balloon, he decided to stay in Southern California for a period of time to create a a small monument to the failed, but loved, project. Eventually that 'small period of time' grew and grew and to this day he has never left. And after one more failed attempt, thousands of gallons of paint, and over 20 years, the mountain stands to this day and continues to grow.

"These days man knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing."

Now that we've debunked a myth about art, we're going confirm another. Lately in the news there's been many cases of this and this. As our consumer markets grows busier and busier, companies resort to cheaper production alternatives in order to increase profit. But lead poisoning is not a new phenomenon. In order to give us a better understanding of it (especially in art) we must dig a little deeper into its background and its relationship with pigments.

Pigments are responsible for giving paint its brilliant color. They are usually in the form of a very fine, ground up powder so that they can be mixed with the solvent, but will not act as a solute (substance that can be dissolved). The most commonly used pigment is titanium dioxide, TiO(2), which is used in most white paints. Anyone who has dabbled in art making and mixing colors before knows that white is used with small amounts of other colors to create lighter shades of those colors, or to create entirely new colors.

Artist continued to make their own paint and pigments through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Mineral pigments (like iron oxide) were used. For example terra verte (similar to viridian or chromium oxide) was used to for some fleshy tones. This was then mixed with an oil or tempera substance to create the beloved paintings of the masters we admire today.

The 1700’s was when the first pigments began to be made in a laboratory setting. Synthetic red iron oxide was made to possess all the desired qualities of its natural counterpart. Synthetic yellow oxide evolved around the 1920’s and using the processes from synthetic yellows and reds, researchers were able to develop a formula for synthetic brown. Today, synthetic oxide pigments are used by most of the world in paint making.

As mentioned before, the most commonly used pigment is titanium dioxide, which is used to make titanium white. This wasn’t discovered until the late 18th century. Before the discovery of this and zinc white, lead white (flake white) was used for centuries. The basic chemical name of lead white is Lead (II) Carbonate, a mixture of lead and an ester (organic compound) of carbonic acid. This poses health concerns as it creates a risk for lead poisoning. Some signs that you may be experiencing lead poisoning are diarrhea, colic or severe abdominal pain, distractibility, and lack of energy, as well as head pain, mood swings, and loss of motor coordination. But adults are not the most at risk for lead poisoning. Studies show that children are at a higher risk for severe reactions to taking in lead particles. This is due to the fact that children’s toys are sometimes painted with paint containing lead as well as because they are much lower to the ground (thus having more of an opportunity to take in the dangerous particles). The immune systems of children are also not as refined as those of adults.

Today lead paint is used in some industries (sometimes illegally) because it has a good performance and is much cheaper than other alternatives, sometimes up to one third of the cost. Some artists also continue to use it today to their own assessment because they consider the white of lead paint to be a much more desirable shade then others available on the common market (though in this case, the use of lead paint would not be considered illegal). For more information on lead poisoning and hotline numbers, check out Lead Poisoning News.

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."

This post we're going to continue with our science lesson and debunk a myth about a common type of paint.

If I were to ask Laura*, the little four year old that I babysit on occasion what she thought of egg tempera paint she would most likely shake her head and laugh, before giving us her opinion on the matter:

"No silly! Then everything would be yellow!"

It's true. Many people stray away from egg tempera paint for various reasons; but most of the time because they assume that the egg yolk, being yellow, will cause the paint to take on a yellowish hue, no matter the color. This is an urban legend and actually the paint that takes on a yellowish hue when dry is not egg tempera, but the alternative that many turn to in order to avoid it; oil paint. In order to understand this we must take a closer look at the chemistry of eggs for a moment.

An emulsion is a suspension of liquid within another and a characteristic of them is to display more color when wet then dry. This means that the ‘yellow’ of the yolk is bright when wet and will disappear through the paint making process as it dries. Any remaining ‘yellow’, will then be bleached out by the light. Once the substance is clear and to the right consistency, it can then be mixed with a pigment to create the desired shade. Oil paint, however, tends to yellow with age, and unless the proper amount of oil is used on each layer of the painting, it has a very good chance of cracking and splitting. One advantage to oil paint is that it can be stored and used over a period of time while egg tempera must be made before each painting session.

That's all for now folks, hopefully you understood my little chemical babble. If you'd like to learn more about egg tempera paint, check out:

http://www.paintmaking.com/eggs.htm

*name has been changed

"A true friend stabs you in the front."

Okay, perhaps this quote is a slight exaggeration. It's true though, that Millais was friends with fellow artist William Holman Hunt, him being the one that Millais traveled with when he went to Ewell to paint "Ophelia's" background. Hunt at the time was working on a painting called "The Hireling Sheperd" which was also painted in Ewell and completed in 1852.

"The Hireling Sheperd"



Hunt was born in 1827 and died in 1910. He was one of the leading founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (which Millais was as well).

His other notable works include:

"The Awakening Conscience" (1853)



"The Scapegoat" (1854)



"The Lady of Shalott" (1889-92)

"One should absorb the colour of life."

I've been talking alot about John Everett Millais and his work, but one should give credit where credit is due. Many people who claim to be "art people" or "literature people" often do so to avoid being a "science person" or a "math person". In fact, we all often forget that all the subjects and intricately intertwined in each other. For example, one cannot be a "literature person" and brag about how many books/pages they've read, or use a particularily pretentious vocabulary due to the amount of words they know. I mean, that's math.

And art, oh art would be nothing without the advancements science has made in the art process. So, right now we're going to switch gears entirely and talk science (with a little poetry included so I'd better get some snapping) (Okay, not really).

The world is full of colors, and every day artists attempt to replicate these bright beautiful hues into portraits of our beautiful world with a little touch of creativity. But how to take the yellow gold of a sunflower and show the way the sun illuminates its petals on paper? How to take the deep blue of the tempestuous sea with the white, glistening foam of its waves and paint it onto a canvas? The answer lies in pigments, and the chemistry of paint.

Most paint is composed of four main components: liquid, additives, binders, and pigment. Each of these components plays an important role in achieving the smooth and finished look of the final product. In Chemistry, the liquid of the paint would be known as the ‘solvent’. The solvent is a substance in which other substances are dissolved. It is important to use the proper solvent when making paint, because with the right one, it provides the desired consistency and is responsible for allowing the pigment and the binders to stick to the desired surface.

So that was your chem lesson for the day, and I'll post more about the science behind art at a later date.

.....

But if you simply must have a history component as well I'll give you a quick one (with a little science involved, ha):

Nowadays you can find everything you need to become your own closet artist at your local art supply store. But it wasn’t always this way. The art of painting dates back to the days of the cave man, and what has affectionately come to be known as ‘cave paintings’. But what some of the art world dismisses off as simplistic and plain there is much more to then what meets the eye. Traditionally it has been assumed that the cavemen got their pigments from animal and plant sources. But more and more is being discovered about these cave dwellers every day, and though animal and plant pigments were utilized, the paintings that have lasted for thousands of years came from iron oxide deposits in the earth. The caveman must have known this, and continued to express himself with the ingredients that would not fade with the changing environment.

And a word to Geico:

Please, it's getting way past ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, lets end this post on a reflective note:

1937:



2006:



These are both really bad pictures but to get a better idea of what I mean, go look at the Disney logo on "Snow White", and then check it out on the newest Disney movie you have and you'll see what I'm referring too.

"Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong."

Millais' "Ophelia" might be one of the modern day best and most well known representations of the character, but as I have said (briefly) before, critics at the time throughly hashed the painting.

While painting "Ophelia", Millais' behavior was not that of the modern artist of the time. For one thing, he spent more time on the background of the painting then the actual subject (which wasn't the practice of most artists of the time). He spent time out in Ewell (around 35 miles from London) searching for the perfect place to paint his background. He finally found a spot beside a river, and as he was painting, was picky about things such as the particular flowers that went into it, so that they would be easily recognizable to the viewers, and would reflect the ones mentioned in the play:

QUEEN GERTRUDE

There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

Let us also keep in mind that painting outside was also very uncommon back then.

A few quotes from critics:

“Yet what misconception so ever may characterize these works, they plainly declare that when this painter shall have got rid of the wild oats of his art, with some other vegetable anomalies, his future promises works of an excellent, which no human hand my have yet excelled".

"The open mouth is somewhat gaping and gabyish,--the expression is in no way suggestive of her past tale. There is no pathos, no melancholy, no brightening up, no last lucid interval. If she die swan-like with a song, there is no sound or melody, no poetry in this strain."